Hong Kong Tells Press Club: Free Speech Isn’t an Absolute Right

HONG KONG—Hong Kong’s government and Chinese officials criticized the city’s foreign press club for allowing an advocate of independence from China to address international media.

Giving a platform to the head of the Hong Kong National Party, a fringe group that opposes Beijing’s rule over the territory, was “inappropriate and unacceptable,” the government said in a statement. It expressed regret the city’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club hadn’t heeded calls to cancel the event.

China’s foreign ministry condemned the speech, noting Beijing has a red linethat forbids discussion of secessionist ideas that undermine Chinese sovereignty. While Hong Kong’s mini-constitution guarantees free expression, the foreign ministry said “freedom of speech has a bottom line and a boundary,” and that talking about Hong Kong independence is unconstitutional and illegal.